about the size of my house?

[secretofcrickleyhall]

I own (outright, no mortgage) a three bedroomed terraced house. It's not a large home but it is a lovely one. There is a small garden, beautiful views and it's in a really nice location near parks and our little town centre - just perfect. However, my dad claims it's too small to be a 'family home

I wondered what sort of homes you all lived in ... ?

[badguider]

I grew up with one sibling, married parents in a 3bed house. It's totally fine. No guest bedroom but we had a separate living room, dining room and kitchen with small table so plenty of space really.

DH and I are in a 1bed/1boxroom flat with big living spaces and pregnant. We're thinking of moving when the baby is somewhere around 1yo.

[greenfolder]

Sounds pefect for your plans. Good luck with -ivf, is the second room big enough for twins?

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

My 3 boys can share a bedroom. We can cope with just one family bathroom. But I insist on two sitting rooms. I can't cope with everyone piled into one sitting room. Either that or go to bed. Ridiculous.

[secretofcrickleyhall]

Greenfolder it is, yes! If I had twins I would probably (eventually) sleep in the small room myself and let the children have a larger room each!

[iclaudius]

Bonsoir that's me - I have a big 'un but equally lots of kids to fill it - I'm a bloody slave to it . Tis constant. Mortgage crippling too

[ArbitraryUsername]

Surely loads of people live in 3 bed terraces. They're not unusual. Loads of kids at school would probably live in very similar houses, and plenty in smaller, less impressive ones.

Your dad is being odd. Very odd.

[WakeyCakey]

I grew up in a 6 bed old chapel with a giant garden. It was 3 floors and all huge rooms.

I now live in a (mortgaged) 2 bed End of terrace with DP and DSD. It has a tiny garden but it is ours.
All my mum could comment on when she saw it was about how small it is!
I like it and it is our family home :-) we will probably look for bigger if we manage to have a DC ourselves but we shall see

[Hairdryer]

And no DP or DH to clutter the place up either, by the sound of it. Wtf.

[secretofcrickleyhall]

The chapel house sounds GORGEOUS, Wakey. Do your parents still live there?

Hairdryer what?

[catgirl1976]

I live in a 2 bed terrace. It's nice, it's in a nice area but it is too small. Kitchen, dining room, living room downstairs, 2 beds and a bathroom upstairs. Decent sized rooms but too small for the 3 of us. Fine as a couple

I told DH it was too small when I was pg but he didn't think so

Now he realises I was right and we now need to move with a toddler and 4 billion blocks of lego in tow.

[Hairdryer]

"i would sleep in the small room myself" not we and ourselves.

[DizzyHoneyBee]

I grew up in a large 5 bedroomed house, we rattled around in it because I was an only child (parents didn't want children). Now I have a typical 3 bedroom semi but would love to have a detached house.

[VerySmallSqueak]

It's easy to cut down on things though,and fit the size you have.

I was worried how I would do it when I had to,but,honestly,we don't need all the stuff we keep about us.

Good luck,OP.

[Viviennemary]

It sounds really nice. If you love it ignore what your Dad says. I always think my house is far too small though people laugh at this because it's probably about average. But I have too much stuff.

[Reallyunsure12]

I am about to move to a smaller house for me and my son so I can own my house outright. My dad has also started to ask how we will manage as he feels my present home is small. I always thought it was quite big for just the two of us, an extended 3 bed 1930's semi with 80 ft garden. Funny because their house is only a big bigger than mine!

[Glittertwins]

Seems to me that there is already one person on this thread admirably demonstrating the quality of response to the OP's concern of marking a child out. If you don't like the thread, leave it.

[DizzyHoneyBee]

I think it's much better to downsize and own outright.

Before I had children I got the chance to relocate to a much cheaper part of the country, along with lots of my colleagues. They mostly took advantage of it and bought a massive house in the countryside but I stuck to the same size property and no mortgage. When interest rates rose in the early 1990s they were not so sure of the wisdom of their decision. I would have loved the large houses that they had though, the grass is always greener and all that.

[ouryve]

As of this month, we own our 2 up 2 down with a garden across the road from us, outright.

With 4 of us and 2 growing boys who can not get on tp the point they can't be left together without close supervision we would love an extra bedroom! We'll have to start from scratch with a mortgage when we upsize, as this house isn't worth very much (which is how we cleared the mortgage in under a decade)

Your dad is being quite unreasonable, especially if you're only wanting the one child.

[oldraver]

OP... I had my DS as a single Mum by choice well I had four bedrooms to fill and my Dad was dead against it and even did the 'she's not bringing the baby into my house' thing. It very nearly ended in my dis-owning of him.

Does the size of the house really matter to him ?, you say it was said to try and put you off. Is it the 'not doing things in the right way' that so many older people are stuck on ?

I was flabberghasted at the 'dont darken my doorstep' attitude of my Dad and yes you Mum who didnt stand up for me, or tell Dad to button it. I was 40+ also mortgage free and just enough money to see me through. I think some of the older generation STILL see single parentdom something ..well to be ashamed off or at least it not to be wanted. You know, you can just about be a single parent through circumstances, but to choose it ?

[kilmuir]

Terraced houses are small, ok for a small family.

[ArbitraryUsername]

Not all terraced houses are small. There are some truly giant terraced houses near where I live.

[FrauMoose]

Things like the size of the actual rooms, thickness of the walls, garden, nearness to schools, friends, public transport, local shops etc, age of the house would all come into the equation as far as I'm concerned. I think a family home is also about relationships, love etc - not just bricks and mortar. I dropped my teenage daughter off at what - to many people - would be a very desirable 'family home' i.e a 4 bedroom modern detached house in a private housing estate on the edge of an affluent town. And I just thought, 'This is my idea of hell'. (Total dependence on car - 1 bus an hour I think - no facilities, nothing for children to do there...)

[zwischenzug]

People over 40, and particularly those over 50, had access to very cheap housing and have no clue about how expensive housing is these days. Generally speaking you can ignore absolutely everything they say on the subject of housing. Its a shame the government are all too keen to listen to their moronic NIMBY campaigns when they try to prevent housing being built for young families as freely as.it was back in your parents day.

[DizzyHoneyBee]

People over 40/50 do still move house though so I think they do understand; whilst younger people struggle to get on the housing ladder we have struggled to be able to move to larger houses whereas our parents used to be able to start small and work their way up.

Interest rates of 15-16% and massive negative equity stopped a lot of people from moving to larger houses; price drops of some 30-40% were not unusual and so people were stuck in houses that they needed to move from but were forced into staying due to negative equity or they'd lose a lot of money.

Different times, different struggles.

[Trills]

at one bus an hour being "total" dependence on a car.